When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist. Dom Helder Camara, Brazil

Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries … it lies with each of us individually. The Dalai Lama

Few things are impossible with diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance. Samuel Johnson, UK

Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.
Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Just walk beside me and be my friend. Albert Camus (attributed)

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights. Bishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa

We shall have to repent of this generation, not so much for the evil deeds of the wicked people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. Martin Luther King, USA

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. Nelson Mandela, South Africa

For goodness sake, will they hear, will white people hear what we are trying to say? Please, all we are asking you to do is to recognize that we are humans, too. Bishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa

When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land. Bishop Desmond Tutu

Take every penny you have set aside for aid for Tanzania and spend it in the UK, explaining to people the facts and causes of poverty. Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania

She told me about her land and her culture and her village and her family and the church and the school and all those things, and I said ‘Thank you, now could you tell me a little just about yourself?’ She looked at me, very surprised, and said ‘But I just did’. Mayan woman, Guatemala

Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
of the best leaders
when their task is accomplished
the people will remark
‘We have done it ourselves’. Lao-tzu, China

A woman from a very rich industrialised country once advised me: ‘Tell your people to do as we have done: to use their heads, to work hard, to be honest and they will achieve what we have already achieved’. Her thinking contains three basic misunderstandings: first that we are unintelligent; second that we do not have the will to work hard; and third, that we are dishonest. Dom Helder Camara, Brazil